UIKitHelpers

This framework is just an extension on UIView that makes my day easier.

Requirements

This is written in Swift 4, works with macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

Installation

You can install this library with Carthage, or Swift's package manager

Carthage

Add this line to you Cartfile:

github "Chandlerdea/UIKitHelpers"

Run carthage update and then add the created framework in $(SRCROOT)/Carthage/build/iOS to the Embedded Binaries section of you project.

Cocopods

I'm having trouble linting the cocoapod, so cocoapods support isn't available just yet. I'll be adding it as soon as I figure out the issue.

Swift Package Manager

In your Packages.swift file, add this code

import PackageDescription

let package = Package(
    url: "https://github.com/Chandlerdea/UIKitHelpers/UIKitHelpers.swift"
    majorVersion: 1
)

How to use

There is also a protocol ReusableViewType which looks like this:

public protocol ReusableViewType {
    static var reuseIdentifier: String { get }
}
extension ReusableViewType where Self: NSObject {
    static public var reuseIdentifier: String {
        let classString = NSStringFromClass(self)
        if classString.contains(".") {
            return classString.components(separatedBy: ".")[1]
        } else {
            return classString
        }
    }
}

UITableViewCell, UICollectionViewCell, UITableViewHeaderFooterView, and UICollectionReusableView all conform to this protocol. I mostly use this with registering cells, so I can register cells with string representations of their name, like this:

tableView.register(SomeCell.self, forCellReuseIdentifier: SomeCell.reuseIdentifier)

The extension on UIView has some convenient methods for common UIKit usecases. For example:

• The ability to create constraints with a priority, without having to create and modify the constraint, in a familiar API that looks like the existing auto layout api. Here are a few examples:
  • constraint(equalTo anchor: NSLayoutDimension, constant: CGFloat, priority: CGFloat) -> NSLayoutConstraint
  • constraint(equalTo anchor: NSLayoutXAxisAnchor, constant: CGFloat, priority: CGFloat) -> NSLayoutConstraint
  • constraint(equalTo anchor: NSLayoutYAxisAnchor, constant: CGFloat, priority: CGFloat) -> NSLayoutConstraint
• An easy, type safe way to load a class from a nib with class func loadFromNib<T: UIView>() -> T
• An easy way to pin a view to all sides of its superview, with optional padding and priorities for the constraints: activateAllSideAnchors(relativeToMargins: Bool! = false, padding: UIEdgeInsets! = nil, priorities: UIEdgeInsets! = nil)

There are a few others for small things like finding subviews, andding more than one subview at once, and other stuff. They are small solutions to ways I have found Apple's APIs to be slightly lacking, or things that I have found myself having to do a lot across projects. If you have any critiques or enhancements you think could make this better, please open a PR. I would love to what others have come up with!